Red in the morning, blah blah blah

   Tuesday morning, just before sunrise, the eastern sky morphed from gray to an artist's palette of pinks, blues and every shade in between.  Of course the colorful dawn glow was a harbinger of rainy weather, that moved in over the next couple of hours.   The incoming clouds snuffed out every trace of color before the sun even made it to the horizon just minutes later.

View from space?

   Tuesday night, an errand that I attempted to run to Grosse Ile on my way to work was thwarted by two trains and boat-triggered bridge opening. I aborted the mission before I got to the island and found myself with some time on my hands, as I had left home early and was only slightly detoured.  

  As I got closer to work I noticed that the moonlight in the clear sky overhead was illuminating some clouds over Lake Erie and northern Ohio that had their own internal light source.  So with my few extra minutes I was able to fire off a few photos before my shift started.

   Not sure if any of my photos are worth a thousand words but the photograph below may be worth a dozen or so for each of the potential cropping options.

First crop....eliminated ground clutter

Tight crop reveals stars of Sagittarius

Teapot asterism

Works as a vertical also

    This next photo reveals lightning tentacles reaching for the stars.
                                      
   They become more apparent in tighter crop

Tigers Vs. (Devil) Rays 7/5/2014

Rookie hazing.

  My wife called me from work on Tuesday.  She wanted to see if I could get tickets for Saturday's afternoon Tiger game.  The weather forecast was favorable, the 4 PM start wouldn't interfere with my work schedule and most importantly her favorite pitcher Anibal Sanchez was scheduled to start.  As a favorite pitcher Sanchez is not a bad choice.  He led the American League in ERA last season.  In fact it never went above 3.00.  Despite injuries that caused him to miss most of May this season he was off to a similar start.

 When I loaded my photos onto the computer after the game, I showed my wife the above photo.  The detail that I noticed was that you can see by Sanchez's grip he was throwing a circle change.  What did my wife notice in the photo?  "You can see his long eyelashes"

  Strangely there were no comments about Joba Chamberlain's eyelashes(must have been blocked by his cap).

Austin Jackson taking a big cut

Ian Kinsler turning a double play

Alex Avila looking to Manager Brad Ausmus for answers

That pitch has home run written all over it

J D Martinez with the proper follow through

Congrats from third base coach Dave Clark

Torii Hunter ripping a single

The reaction of the fan behind Avila sums up the game

No 9th inning  heroics from Rajai Davis today as he misses strike three by several inches for the last out of the game

  Despite home runs by Avila and J D Martinez the Tigers lost 7-2.  Sanchez's effectiveness diminished as his pitch count soared and he was ultimately outpitched by Chris Archer.

The Return of the Falcon

   The young Peregrine Falcon, whose maiden flight ended unceremoniously in a dumpster, was returned to his home by Raptor Rehabilitator Dave Hogan with assistance from fellow falconer Mark Tomich.

Booger Jr. backed into a corner

Dave Hogan preparing the release

Surveying the outside world.

It's great to be home.

But it would be greater to get an aerial view.

He's got the flying part mastered

Landing is a different story.

Showing his band. E/07 black/red

  Interestingly I was able to get a photo of the fledgling's band on it's first flight, while it took me four years to get the ID off of his Dad's band.

Angry Dad

    Speaking of Dad falcon, he gave a less than warm welcome to Junior, as he dove past the young bird in an aggressive manner several times.  The returnee ended up successfully landing on the deck of the watertower and Mom soon landed on a rail nearby to offer her protection.

Dad's band 51/B black/red

  Dad's ID band, 51/B black/red, when run through the Midwest Peregrine Database indicates he was born at the University of Toledo in 2009.  Every parent wants a better life for their offspring, that must be why 51/B and his mate 02/Y from Dayton, OH came to Michigan.

Baby on a Ledge

   On Sunday, at the age of 35 days, the elder of the two Peregrine chicks (we'll call Booger Jr.) left the safety of the nest to look out on the world from 100 feet above the ground.

At this age a young male will start to exercise its wings, which can lead to a gust of wind carrying the rookie flier tumbling to the ground.  

  On Monday morning I searched the ledges and ground below but was unable to locate the bird.  That evening I received a call from one of my work buddies (we'll call Booger Sr.), who told me he found it alive in a dumpster.   I called the Southeast Michigan Peregrine coordinator, Chris Becher, who dispatched Raptor Rehabilitator Dave Hogan to pick up the bird.  Dave told Booger Sr. that the chick looked fine and he would return it to the nest area in a few days when it would be strong enough not to repeat the mishap. 

  

    Here is the flight path the newbie took to the dumpster.  Note that he missed landing in the water by only a couple of  feet.

Mom watching over Baby on the Ledge

ID tag always on display

Close-up

Blood on her bill

  With chick #1 out of harm's way, this morning I found its sibling, now 35 days old, had stepped out of the on-deck circle and into the batter's box.  Uh-oh

To be continued......

Peregrine Chicks

  The resident Peregrine Falcons at my work site are once again proud parents this year.  Yesterday, two hours into a 16 hour shift, I was able to photograph the nestlings.   Here is a link to the Canadian Peregrine Foundation's  Daily Development Age Guide.   http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/info/ageguide.html  .

 As close as I can tell the chick in front is about 26 days old and its siblling probably 28 days old.  If you check out the daily changes at the aforementioned link, you'll see how rapidly they progress day-to-day.  In fact, by 37 days they should be ready to fly.  I was tempted to try to photograph them again this morning 14 hrs after this photo was taken to see if they changed overnight.

  Here are some other photos I've taken at work since my last blog post.

Scarlet Tanager

  This next ID is a little tricky but if you read his lips you may get it.

Fitz

Bew

  That's right, it's a Willow Flycatcher, virtually visually indistinguishable from a handful of other genus Empidonax Flycatchers, but the Fitz-bew call confirms the ID.

  Next up is Osprey Air Taxi Service carrying a passenger who has paid dearly.

Will there be an inflight meal?

Pumpkinseed not getting a good view.

Bank Swallows

Common Yellowthroat

Canada Warbler

Mama Peregrine